Re: Hello, old friend (and some Celtics thoughts)

["hironaka@xxxxxxxxx"<hironaka@xxxxxxxxx>]

> ---------- Initial message -----------
> 
> From    : owner-celtics@igtc.com
> To      : celtics@igtc.com
> Cc      : 
> Date    : Wed, 19 Feb 2003 20:23:19 -0500
> Subject : Re: Hello, old friend (and some Celtics 
thoughts)
> 
> At 11:16 PM 2/19/2003 +0200, you wrote:
> >When the Celtics have Walker, Pierce and Eric scoring 
in
> >the paint like that, I don't understand why Boston
> >habitually turns to the 3-pointers and allows teams to
> >creep back from big leads.
> 
> Because it's like falling off a log - it's the path of 
least resistance.
> 
> 
> 
> >As for Walt, if I were Chris Wallace I'd consider
> >offering him a secure 3-year deal in the low one 
million
> >range, as this would give the Celtics additional FA
> >options in the summer of 2006 when the Celts already 
have
> >24 million (Baker, Battie, Delk) coming off the cap at
> >once, with captains Antoine Walker at 30 and Pierce 29.
> 
> He'll want more than that. It's funny that NOW he's 
actually earning the 
> contract that Pitino gave him. The $8M question is, 
when he gets another, 
> will the old Waltuh - the one who was making stupid 
decisions on the court 
> and was complete immersed in his day job, music, off 
the court - reappear? 
> I do agree that the new Waltuh has been nothing short 
of amazing. I didn't 
> know he had it in him. If I were Chris Wallace, I'd 
have the Waltuh signing 
> in bold 72-point font on my resume  - even though I 
suspect it was actually 
> Obie who was the impetus behind the decision to re-sign 
McCarty.
> 


Well I think marriage has been great in the evolution of 
Waltah. What impressed me was a heads up assist late in 
the Clippers game, icing on the cake on top of weeks of 
late 3-pointers in the last two minutes of close games.

There are good players who struggle to overcome total 
fear of the ball in the clutch (Chris Webber and Doug 
Christie come to mind), others who successfully whittle 
down the range of their crunch time contributions to 
specific, muscle memorized skills (spot-up shooting like 
Paxson or to some degree Ainge) but lose court sense and 
creativity. 

Waltah's Waltah, yet he really seems to have his head in 
the game these days, when the game is on the line. He 
knows what range of options can occur with the ball in 
his hands, and generally seems ready to execute the 
correct play in crunch time. And on defense, while much 
of it is artifice (as DJ showed throughout his career), 
McCarty moves his arms around so aggressively on defense 
in the "wax on, wax off" kung fu fighting mode that 

At some point, Walt stopped trying to be a middling jack-
of-all-trades guy and focused on two things he could make 
a name for himself in: defense and distance shooting. 

As he's gotten better and better at those things, he's 
become much more assertive in taking what defenses give 
him. He really has developed enough control of his skills 
to be valuable.

Let's face it, he's got a long way to go before he ever 
plays to his god given height and tremendous speed.

But the biggest reason why the Celtics have so 
promisingly already done better than NJ, Detroit and 
Indiana did this year on the West Coast trip is because 
Waltah stepped in for Obie at center and actually did the 
same things (rebounding, defense and three-point 
shooting) with even more energy than Rodney Rogers 
provided last year, when briefly we seemed to have 
bottled the magic formula for success.

Whether Walt's distance shooting off the bench will make 
any iota of difference against Divac tomorrow and Shaq 
etc. later this Spring is very much in question. But we 
went 4-1 legitimately out West, and if we stay healthier 
that won't seem so much like an exception but the rule.


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